The Supreme Court has said it is not deterred by attacks on its judges over the recent judgements they delivered
The apex court had received backlash from Nigerians of recent following judgements it gave on Senate President Dr. Ahmad Lawan as well as former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs Senator Godswill Akpabio.
Both Lawan and Akpabio of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) did not run in their respective senatorial primaries on May 28, 2022, having participated in their partyโs presidential primaries. Despite their non-participation, the Supreme Court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise them as candidates for the February 25 elections.
But in a statement on Saturday, the Director of Press and Information at the Supreme Court, Festus Akande warned that those who had been โventing convoluted angerโ were ignorant of the law.
He said insinuations that its justices were bought over โby some unknown and unseen personsโ was nothing short of โa bizarre expression of ignorance.โ
โCourts donโt advertise or scout for cases for adjudication; but at the same time, we are duty-bound to adjudicate on all matters that come before us with a view to giving justice to whoever justice is due, irrespective of status,โ the statement read.
โNo court in any clime is a Father Christmas; so, no one can get what he or she didnโt ask for. Similarly, all matters are thoroughly analysed and considered based on their merits and not the faces that appear in Court or sentiments that attempt to becloud the sense of reasoning.
โSo, for anyone in his or her right frame of mind to insinuate that the Justices have been bought over by some unknown and unseen persons is, to say the least, a bizarre expression of ignorance, which definitely has no place in law or even in the realm of pedestrian reasoning.
โWe are not surprised with the surge of these well-orchestrated verbal assaults on Judicial Officers across the country at this period of elections. It is a thing we are used to and are ever ready to absorb whatever comes our way, but there should be some level of decorum and dignity in what we say and do. Politics should not be played without recourse to good conscience and acceptable moral conduct, as everything is evolving globally. Those who have cultivated the unfashionable penchant of always attacking the Judiciary over every judgment or ruling given should better have a rethink and start channelling such robust energy into some ventures that are more developmental than destructive.
โWe are not politicians and should not, by any stroke of imagination, be cast in that mould either. Nobodyโs interest can ever supersede the interest of everybody. Nigeria is bigger than every one of us. A word is enough for the wise.โ
